John Bryson, President Obama's nominee to head the Commerce Department, is well-qualified, knowledgeable and practiced in the ways of business. If anything, he might be too practiced. The Senate's confirmation scrutiny of Bryson sometime this summer could be lively, judging from his CV and the California policies and politics that gave him his start.

At the White House on Tuesday the president hailed Bryson's "wealth of experience in the public and in the private sectors," suggesting that Bryson's eclectic resume will benefit his economic team and help the nominee win Senate approval. If confirmed, Bryson, the retired CEO of Edison International, would succeed Gary Locke, whom Obama previously nominated to become U.S. ambassador to China.

To some Republicans, Bryson's outspoken pronouncements about curbing climate change, his enthusiasm for tough California regulations that actually gave his company competitive advantages, and his support for left-leaning nonprofit organizations -- plus his generous contributions to Democratic candidates -- are all unsettling.

Bryson's role, along with actions by colleagues leading up to the 2001 energy "crisis" in California, may invite new Senate scrutiny. Edison International and its subsidiary Southern California Edison prospered during that period. Competitor Pacific Gas & Electric did not. The whole drama helped undercut public support for a sitting Democratic governor, Gray Davis.

A Republican source who interacted with Bryson in California during that period, and who spoke to RCP on background, said Obama's nominee "is very smart and he's thoughtful, but his company and his tenure as the head of that company were at the heart of California's energy crisis, and if Republicans in the Senate want to look closely at the events at that time, and how Southern California Edison fared, it could pose an uncomfortable confirmation process for Mr. Bryson."

Democrats may also find reasons to grouse. Bryson's ties to the business community, the 18 years he spent as CEO of Edison International, his lucrative board posts with the Boeing and Walt Disney companies, and his advisory role with the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., don't exactly fit the populist profile of a nominee picked by a president who insists he is concerned with the needs of middle-class workers. Bryson has been blamed in some quarters for promoting utility interests over environmental concerns, to the detriment of the public, taxpayers and the economic interests of utility customers.

Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable issued immediate statements of support for Bryson's nomination on Tuesday.

White House Chief of Staff William Daley helped win Senate Republican support for the North American Free Trade Agreement as Commerce secretary during the Clinton administration. Daley directed Obama's search for this new member of the economic team, one who can help Obama reach out to business and also help secure Senate support for free-trade pacts with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, along with Republican backing to continue funding for displaced U.S. workers under an extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance.

Obama is linking the free-trade pacts that Republicans like with extended TAA funding, which they don't like. For their part, Senate Republicans said when the Commerce vacancy appeared that the president would have a hard time getting GOP votes for a new secretary until they get the implementing legislation for the pending free-trade pacts.